The journey of love  A NACY story
by MacyBear17
Summary: Macy and Nick are best friends who are thrown into a relationship because of an opportunistic ex-girlfriend who claims to be engaged to Nick... Will they ever realize that they are made for each other? Nacy fluff.. with a little angst thrown in for fun...
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N : First of all let me tell you that i sadly don't own JONAS or anything related to them... I am just borrowing them so that i can play with them for sometime... i promise i'll put them back safe and sound on the shelf... :)**_

_**Secondly, if you can review after you read that would be awesome cuz reviews are love...**_

_**Without further rambling, onto the story...**_

Chapter 1

"Nick…. Where are you bro?..." yelled Kevin from the living room of the Lucas family firehouse.

His curly haired younger brother's head popped down one of the holes for the fireman's poles as he looked down at his oldest brother inquiringly… Nick was a man of few words and he liked to use his words in writing number one hit songs for their band JONAS instead of wasting them talking to his brothers… Trust me… his brothers were totally weird… trying to hold a conversation with them was like banging your head repeatedly into the wall of your own volition and Nick liked his curly haired head a little too much to subject it to such pain.

Kevin had always been the sweet but off the wall brother… Don't get me wrong, Kevin was one of the best older brothers one could ask for…always supportive and ready to lend a hand in any of their genius plans that inevitably ended in disaster( :P )…He had been the one to teach Nick how to play almost all the instruments they played…(except the drums… that was all Nick…)But Kevin could also be quite clueless when he wanted…And that ended up being most of the time…Plus there was also that annoying habit of falling asleep whenever there was a serious discussion going on…Nick never knew how he did that… They would all be talking about something serious like concert schedule one second and the next, Kevin would be peacefully snoring away, cuddling up on the chair with a pillow….

And all Joe could talk about nowadays was two things… His hair and Stella Malone… Stella Malone was their best friend from childhood and had now been their stylist for almost 5 years now… All the brothers liked Stella a lot… Kevin, Nick and Frankie looked at her like she was a sister they didn't have… But, Joe… Joe was the same age as Stella and so had been the closest to her since they had become neighbors when they were 6 years old… Joe had been in love with Stella since he had first come to know what love was… He was too worried about wierding out his best friend with his feelings and losing her in the process to take the step to admit his feelings for her… Stella on the other hand felt the same way about Joe but was also apprehensive about the fact that the boys were rock stars and if they started to go out and Joe found someone else, she would just be devastated… Stella also loved working as their stylist and didn't want anything to come in between her and her work as she was seriously training to be a world famous fashion designer one day and being JONAS' stylist would be a major step in the right direction.

The friendship between Stella and the boys had been very strong since the first time they met her… The only time the Lucas brothers seriously thought about cutting down the time they spent with Stella was when they first met her best girlfriend… Macy Misa… Stella and the brothers had just transferred to Horace Mantis High in New Jersey and Stella had found her childhood best friend again… Macy and Stella had been together since they were babies up until when Stella had moved to Texas when she was 6 and had found the Lucas boys… Now Macy and Stella were re-united and both were over the moon… The Lucas boys, not so much… The main problem was that Macy was the number one super fan of the band JONAS and was also the president of the JONAS fan club for the state… This resulted in her either hyperventilating or passing out whenever she got near them… Macy was also the star athlete of the school which was even more unfortunate for the guys as she always seemed to have some sort of athletic equipment with her and ended up hurting them pretty badly every time she got near them, right before she hyperventilated or passed out…

Nick, who was the same age as Macy and shared most of her classes, being in the unfortunate situation of spending the most time around her, got sick of getting hit on the head with a golf club, walked over by football cleats or punched in the gut with a baseball bat pretty quickly… Being the three-points-shy-of-a-genius he was, he formulated a plan with his brothers and Stella, making sure that they each spent as much time with Macy as they could, trying to make her see that they were just normal guys when they were not out there being rock stars… His brothers reluctantly agreed to this plan, knowing that they would get hurt a lot at least initially… The plan worked like a charm and pretty soon, Macy Misa was a close friend of the Lucas brothers… She was still a super fan of JONAS and still hyperventilated sometimes but she had stopped passing out or injuring them in any way… She had finally started to differentiate between JONAS and the Lucas brothers and had started to treat them as her friends…

Nick was secretly jumping for joy with the recent developments as he had been smitten with Macy since the day he saw her for the first time… He still remembered it as if it had been just yesterday… Granted Macy might not remember much since she had been unconscious after the first two minutes but Nick had really fallen in love for the first time in his life that day and he felt that if Macy could treat him and his brothers like normal guys and became friends with them, he would like his first love to be the last and final love of his life… His brothers knew that Nick had feelings for Macy but nobody, not even Nick realized how serious they were until later… Nick had forbidden any talk about his feelings for Macy around anyone who was not in the family… He had especially warned Joe about talking to Stella about this and also threatened Kevin with kidnapping Beary- Bear Bearington (the first stuffed toy that their Mom had gotten Kevin when he was three, which Kevin couldn't live without)if he ever spoke to anybody about this…

Everybody knew that Nick fell in love hard and fast all the time and they also knew that it almost never lasted… Kevin, Joe and the Lucas parents Tom and Sandy had just assumed that his crush on Macy would go the same way and they hadn't treated it with that much importance… But now, it had been almost six months to the day the brothers had met Macy and Nick's feelings for her were still going strong… in fact, they had started growing with tremendous speed since Macy had started acting normal around them… there was so much more to her once she stopped passing out, hyperventilating or hurting them… Macy had turned out to be a compassionate, considerate and very sweet girl who made a special place for herself in everybody's heart in the Lucas household… Especially in the heart of the youngest of three brothers forming the world famous boy band JONAS…

Nick Lucas was biding his time, trying to shore up the courage to ask Macy out while apprehensive of the way she was going to react… He didn't know if she was ready to date one of the members of JONAS… he knew she was their biggest fan but he didn't know if she liked any of them in that way… Scratch that… no way he wanted to be thinking about Macy liking one of his brothers… He had tried dating other girls, even some famous ones like Miley Stewart (God!.. That was a major mistake…) and Selena Gomez but nothing had seemed to work out… It didn't take long for him to figure out that he would never be happy dating any other girl when the girl who held his heart was Macy.

Returning to the present from his thoughts, Nick asked Kevin what he had yelled about and in reply Kevin showed him his cellphone and asked him to come downstairs

Sliding down the fireman's pole, Nick landed on the couch next to his brother, glancing with mild interest at the phone in his hands…

"Have you been avoiding someone lately Nick?" Kevin wiggled his eyebrows suggestively

"Wh… What?...M..Maybe….Y..Yeah… How did you know?" Nick stuttered… He had never been able to lie to his parents or brothers… He could lie to Joe if hard pressed about it (not counting the fact that Joe would find out that he was lying in a second) but never to Kevin or Frankie or even his parents… Suddenly he was feeling pretty uncomfortable…

His most recent break up with Carmen Santiago, an up and coming pop star who was going to be one of the opening acts of their upcoming tour, hadn't gone all that well… He had obviously not told her the reason he was breaking up with her but he thought he had made it clear that they were over and that he didn't want to pursue that relationship anymore…. Apparently he hadn't been clear enough… She had kept calling over the weekend and had been really emotional all the times Nick had attended her calls… After 34 calls of listening to her say the same thing over and over again and cry her eyes out, Nick had stopped taking her calls, going as far as to shut his phone off… He now looked at the phone in Kevin's hand in horror as it started to ring and Carmen's name flashed in the caller ID

"Yeah… Since _**someone **_shut off their phone, she had started calling up me and Joe, trying to get us to give you the phone… Dude… didn't you tell her that you were breaking up with her?...And I think I'd better warn you… She's past the crying stage and now she's demanding a full scale apology from you and she's pretty angry… I think it isn't going to be pretty when you two meet again… Ooh.. I can't wait… So much drama… It's like my own personal episode of Mackenzie Falls…" (:P)

Nick glared at Kevin as his older brother snickered at Nick's plight and flipped his phone open

"Hello… Carmen hi!... So sorry Carmen… Nick isn't here… He's… Actually you know what?... I don't know where my younger brother is… If I see him I'll definitely tell him that… Right…. How big are we talking here?... Oh wow… I would like to see that happen!... Right Carmenita… I'll tell him that he owes you a humongous apology and that he should grovel on his knees before you even consider taking him back… Or he'll have to face some really bad things….Got it… Bye Carmen… Take care"

Cutting the call, Kevin looked at his younger brother's astonished face… Nick was frozen in surprise at hearing Kevin's half of the conversation… Why did Carmen think that he would want to get back with her or that he would even consider apologizing to her when he hadn't done anything wrong in the first place!... He was pulled out of his reverie when he felt Kevin ruffle his curly hair and say

"You owe me young Nick… You owe me big for that one… And I am gonna have so much fun collecting from you….But word of advice here Nicky… I don't like the way this is going… Neither do Joe and I like Carmen all that much… She's quite mean when you're not around… So make sure you get it through to her that whatever was between the two of you is over now… We don't need another Fiona Skye incident okay?... But seriously… So much drama dude… So cool…" Saying that, Kevin went off muttering something about cancelling his order of two dozen goats and the three giraffes… He shuddered, thinking he didn't even want to know what that was about… Kevin could be so weird… So normal one second and throw you a curve ball by being so kooky the next… Nick thought he would never understand his older brothers… Shaking his head wearily, he went up the stairs to finish the song he'd been working on when he'd been interrupted by Kevin.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N : I just finished writing this and haven't had too much time to check it over once again... So don't hate me if there are any mistakes... I'm just so enthu abt uploading this for you guys..._**

Chapter 2

Next Day morning at the Lucas family firehouse

Kevin, Joe, Nick and Frankie were at the breakfast table, eating their favorite breakfasts, which Mrs. Lucas was busy cooking for them in the kitchen when Tom Lucas rushed in waving his phone in the air looking completely harassed.

"What happened Dad?... You look like something's wrong…"

Mr. Lucas turned to Nick and asked

"Nick… There's something I need to ask you… and I want to hear the complete truth from you on this matter…"

Nick and his brothers looked completely puzzled at this statement but Nick nodded his head at his father, trying to work out what had made his parent get so stressed out

"There are about fifty journalists outside the house waiting for you guys to leave for school…"

Tom didn't get to finish whatever he was saying before he was interrupted by his second son

"Chilax dad… If that's what's making you freak out like this, don't worry… We can handle it….We're JONAS… We can take care of some press interviews before school right guys?..."

Tom looked at Joe for a second before continuing

"The difference is that they are mainly waiting to question Nick…" After a dramatic pause and several inquiring looks from his family, he decided to elaborate

"About his and Carmen's relationship and the rumor that he proposed to her yesterday, she happily accepted and that they are engaged to be married now…"

This was greeted by absolute silence from all five family members before the sound of Mrs. Lucas dropping her pancake spatula in the kitchen brought them all back to the moment… They all turned to look at her and turned back to stare at Nick who looked as if he was about to throw up… Nick looked at his family, trying to reign in the panic that had started to set in the moment his father had divulged the startling piece of news…

"Wh…. What are you saying Dad?... P..P..Propose?...Ma..Marriage?... Is this a joke?... Dad!... What are you even saying?"

Tom Lucas sighed and looked at his third son

"Nick… Just tell me truthfully if what I said is correct or not…"

Nick just stared in surprise at that because he had never expected his dad to take it seriously and even ask him whether it was true or not… He turned to look at his other family members to see the look of inquiry duplicated on their faces and it dawned on him that they were actually, seriously waiting for his answer…

"Dad!... How can you even ask me something like that?...Of course it's not true… God!... I can't believe I am saying this but….Kevin was right!... This is Fiona Skye all over again…. How can you people even think that?... Come on guys… When Fiona had Joe in her sights and something like this happened, nobody took it seriously… Everybody was ready to support Joe and do whatever it took to get him away from her… So why suddenly is everybody looking at me and asking whether I really proposed to Carmen or not?..." Nick cried, shuddering at the thought of actually proposing to someone like Carmen, who was a complete cold-hearted opportunist…

They all looked away with various degrees of sheepish expressions on their faces, unable to answer Nick's question…Finally, Joe turned back to him and sighed

"Sorry Nick… We really shouldn't have asked you that question… You're right… It was incredibly stupid of us to even consider that you'd propose to someone at 16 and not tell us about it… It's just that you're so intense and you crush over a girl so hard every time that we had to consider that possibility… Sorry man… Won't happen again…"

"You're goddamn right it won't happen again…. I can't believe you guys… Mom?... You too?... and Dad… I definitely didn't expect this from you… I'm sorry but I have to get out of here…."

Nick hurried out of the back door with his satchel and ran off towards school, taking a shortcut that he knew would protect him from the reporters in front of his house… Normally, he would've stayed back and helped his Dad and brothers draft up an interview or press release to combat the emergency situation that they faced but for the life of him he couldn't go back there now… Nick never cursed or used swear words if he could help it but today he just couldn't… It had escaped his mouth before he even knew what he was saying… He would have to apologize to his mom for that later… Thinking about the fact that even his mom had been looking at him that way this morning made him feel like screaming, crying and kicking something at the same time…He had never felt so let down in his life… And it didn't help knowing that if his family didn't believe that _**that**_ piece of news was a bald-faced lie, then nobody else would even consider believing that it was not the truth…

School was the last place Nick wanted to be at right now… He definitely didn't want to face another horde of people who would've assumed that he was engaged to Carmen now… But today was the day he had a major exam in History class which counted for almost 40% of his grade… There was no way he could ditch that test and pass History… And not passing all subjects would mean no concert tour during summer… His music and the band were probably the two things that were keeping him sane and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that…

End of Chapter 2

A/N : plz review if u liked it... :) more chapters on the way soon...


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N : Hello folks... here's chapter 3 of the story... enjoy and don't forget to review your thoughts... if you have any ideas on how you want the story to proceed, plz msg me...**_

Thank you so much **Channy and Nacy F and A**,** fidelisdy**, **MsFairytales** and **snoupy** for reviewing my stories and encouraging me to write more... love you lots guys...

**Chapter 3**

Sighing as he entered the school building, Nick decided to lay low through the day and avoid making any comments on the matter at hand… He was greeted by yells of congratulations and enquiries of when the wedding was going to be held and whether they were going to be invited from all the students he met on the corridors, sending his plan of lying low down the drain… His day went further south when he saw Stella Malone's angry and hurt face looking up at him from next to his locker… She had been waiting there for him and started to shout at him and demand an explanation for being kept in the dark, as soon as he neared hearing distance of her.

"What's happening Nick?... I thought we were friends!... And I have to hear from some third-rate gossip magazine that you proposed to your girlfriend?..."

"Stella… Listen.."

"I can't believe you!... I thought you'd atleast have the decency to tell your friends first…"

"Stells… It's.."

"I had such awesome ideas for your outfit for that occasion…. I can't believe you didn't tell me!..."

She went on and on for almost three minutes without taking a single breath before

"STELLA MALONE"

That shut her up for atleast two seconds and before she could start again Nick hastened to start his explanation when Macy walked up to them with a cheery hello. Nick turned to her, wincing, expecting her to either go off on a shouting spree like Stella or ask him for an interview about it for the website or atleast congratulate him about it… Some teeny weeny part of him also wanted her to feel bad about it… Yeah… that was the lovesick part of his brain which wanted Macy Misa to love him back and wanted her to feel bad that he was supposedly in love with someone else… Was he screwed up or what!

But he was astonished by her reaction… Or more precisely, the complete and utter lack of it. She appeared normal… The cheerful, bright and friendly Macy he knew and loved… She was busy turning the dial of the lock on her locker when she felt Nick and Stella's shocked gazes on her. She turned to them and smiled slightly, her hazel eyes wide and sparkling in the early morning sunlight. Her expression went from happy to mildly curious to doubting to outright panic in three seconds flat with the rush of questions

"Hey guys!... What's up?... Why are you looking at me like that?... Is everything ok?... I didn't forget something did I?.. Stella… Is there something on my face?.. Did I forget to wear something?... Oh my god!... Stop staring at me like that!... What is it?..."

Nick smiled slightly at her rambling and shook his head in denial at her while Macy looked between Stella and him for answers to her queries… She then looked enquiringly at Stella, who looked a little green in the face at the prospect of telling Macy about the news she had heard…

Stella was the only one in the whole world that knew who Macy's favorite JONAS was and why… She knew that Macy had had a major crush on Nick of JONAS during her fan girl days, ever since she had started following the band and their music… She also knew that Macy was now crushing on Nick Lucas, her school mate and best friend… Macy herself didn't know it yet but Stella was sure Macy was in love with Nick… She didn't know whether Nick even thought of Macy that way… She'd have to ask Joe about it… But all that could wait… She needed to be there for her best friend now… Seeing Macy act all normal, Stella knew that somehow, the JONAS number one super fan had missed out on the most important piece of JONAS news to hit the media in the last few months… There was no way Macy knew that Nick had proposed to Carmen if she was still acting this normal…

"Macy honey…. I don't think you know yet… Though I have no idea how you missed this… I mean you're the number one JONAS super fan and this is like the biggest piece of news to hit the scene since like… I don't know news of the band's first world tour or their Grammy award or…"

"Stella…. You're rambling… and you're also talking very very fast… What's wrong?" Macy asked, half curious, half amused.

"Oh… Sorry… I guess you didn't hear… It's about Nick and…. Nick… and…" Stella stalled… Not really wanting Macy to hear this news for the first time in front of Nick, fearing what her reaction would be

"Nick and…?"

"Well Mace… The whole world is kinda talking about me and Carmen right now…" cut in Nick, not wanting Stella to go through any more trouble explaining to her best friend… Stella shot Nick a venomous glance which would've dearly affected him had he not been so anxious about a certain petite brunette's reaction to what he had just said…

Macy turned to Nick and said…

"Oh… That!... So sorry Nick… I know what you're going through right now…. I'll help you get through this in whatever way I can…" Macy said almost apologetically

"Macy… What are you talking about?..."

"Stells… I am obviously talking about the stupid rumor all over the internet and the rest of the media that Nick and Carmen are getting married…"

Macy turned back to a flabbergasted Nick who was trying to formulate a response… Not finding it within him to respond to it conversationally, Nick gave up and just dragged Macy to him, hugging her with all his strength. He crushed her petite body to his, breathing a deep sigh of relief for having his faith restored in friendship… Macy stiffened at first, surprised by the uncommon public display of affection by Nick-I-am-the-serious-one Lucas… But as moments passed, she relaxed and wrapped her own arms around his tall, muscular frame and both Nick and Macy began to notice just how perfectly their bodies fit together… Macy's small, curvy body felt to Nick as if it was made for him to hold against his own… Macy felt as if that small indent in the middle of his chest was molded to fit her head, which fit there perfectly… They both unconsciously sighed at the feeling of being in each other's arms before they realized that they were still standing in the hallway at school and hurriedly broke apart, blushing heavily…

Stella, who had witnessed the whole thing, walked up to Macy and clutching her shoulder, pulled Macy around to face her

"Macy… Nick proposed to Carmen and she accepted… _**That's**_ what's happened…." She slowly said, separating each word, as if telling a five year old child…

Macy smiled, shook her head, sending a supportive look toward Nick and squeezing his hand lightly and replied

"No… Stella… Nick didn't propose to Carmen… She didn't accept… None of this actually happened… My guess is Nick broke up with her this weekend…" she paused, looking at Nick for confirmation, who nodded his reply

"She must've tried the crying and begging routine before moving on to guilt trips and demanding apologies… When she found out that none of it worked, She went on and released the news to the press that she and Nick were engaged, hoping to get her share of fifteen minutes in the limelight… I don't know what she hopes to gain from it cuz it's gonna be made very clear soon that none of this happened… Unless… She thinks that Nick is too much of a gentleman to let this happen and that he might actually end up proposing because of the media pressure or…. She knows something we don't… I still haven't figured out what though… Did you think of something she might know that she could use against you Nick?"

Nick shook his head frustrated

"I haven't a single idea Mace… You know that I don't have any secrets… Our lives are like open books… We need to be like that if we have to uphold the clean, kid-friendly image that our record label demands we have… But this is the most frustrating thing that ever happened to me… I felt so let down today… My friends, my fans even my family believed it… for however long… Can you believe it Mace?.. Dad asked me whether it was true at breakfast today… I almost shouted at him and even cursed before leaving the house… God!... This is so difficult…."

Macy squeezed his hand again and sent him a sad smile

"You'll get through this Nick… I know you will… Besides, you have your family to support you through this and I am always gonna be here…believing in you… Remember what happened with Joe and Fiona Skye?... We'll get through this just like we got through that… We'll send Carmen running for the hills…"

Nick smiled for the first time that day… Even though it was just a watery half smile, Macy felt its effect all the way to her toes… God!... He had such a beautiful smile… She just hoped that he would smile like that all the time… not that her heart could take it all that well…. ( )

As Macy and Nick continued to smile and stare at each other for a few seconds longer, getting lost in each other's eyes, Stella's small, guilt-ridden voice piped up from behind them, bringing them back to reality

"Uh… I have no idea how to fix this but… But…. Nick….. I'm so so so so soooo sorry… I shouldn't have assumed anything… I should've trusted you and waited for an explanation… It's just that I thought that we were really close friends and you'd tell me everything because I am your friend if not for the fact that I am your stylist…. I guess I just felt let down sort of…. I sorry for shouting at you…. And for assuming that the gossip was true… I have no idea how I'm gonna make up for it but I definitely will… I…"

"Stella… Relax… Seriously… It's fine….It'll be okay…. I am not angry at you or anything… You made the same mistake my family made… Doesn't mean that I am not gonna forgive any of you… It hurts a bit yes… but it's okay… It was an honest mistake and I'll get over it…"

He hugged Stella lightly and smiled at her, assuring her that it was alright when Kevin and Joe joined them…

"Whoa dude… This Carmen thing is getting blown way out of proportion… I've never seen so many reporters outside our house before today… Not even that Fiona Skye thing was this big…. Nicky my bro, you've hit the mother lode of media attention if I may say so…." Joe smirked

Kevin looked between Macy, Stella and Nick with a quizzical expression, nodding his head at them and asking Nick silently whether they knew… He knew that Nick had been very angry when he left the house and he didn't want to anger his younger brother any further… Nick smiled slightly and nodded back at Kevin

"Yeah…they both know… And they know how I feel about it too… Well actually Macy was the only one who knew the truth and who believed that I couldn't have proposed to Carmen… And for that I'm gonna be grateful for the rest of my life…" he said, smiling down at the petite fan girl turned best friend…

Stella looked slightly guilty while Macy blushed lightly and shook her head saying

"That's what friends are for doofus… Anyways, we all have to get to class guys… Nick you remember that we have a major history exam today right?..."

"Are you kidding me?... That's the only reason I even stepped foot into this building today… Otherwise I would've just played hooky and sat in the studio for the rest of the day, avoiding as many people as I can…"

End of Chapter 3

_**A/N : Plz review if you liked it... :)**_

_**lotsa luv**_

_**Macy-Bear**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hi guys... Sorry for the huge delay in posting on this and other stories of mine... :( RL has been quite frustrating for the last coupla months... But not to worry, i am back and i will be posting more as soon as i can write it. So keep reading and keep reviewing! :)**_

P.S A huge THANK YOU to all the nice ppl who reviewed on the last three chapters... :)

**Chapter 4**

At lunch, there were more wishes, requests for invitations to the wedding and even one quasi-demand from a girl in the JONAS fan club to ditch Carmen and marry her… Nick had gotten so tired of trying not to react to anything throughout the morning that he finally lost his temper at the cafeteria… Getting up on the lunch table, he whistled loudly to get everyone's attention… When the buzz of conversation quieted down

"I am _**not**_… repeat am _**not**_ engaged to Carmen Santiago… It is just a baseless rumor… I _**didn't**_ propose to her, she _**didn't**_ accept anything… _**In fact**_ I broke up with her last weekend…I am _**not**_ getting married anytime soon… If this goes on I think I'll probably _**never**_ get married… So if I hear one more congratulations or one more 'are you going to invite me to the ceremony' I'll personally tear up my guitar strings and wrap them around that person's head… _**Is that clear**_?"

After shouting that out to the whole cafeteria which was still in a shocked silence, Nick calmly got down from the table, took his seat and started to unwrap his sandwich… Nobody in school would've ever believed it if somebody told them that one day the quiet, never-get-into-trouble Nick Lucas would get up onto the lunch table and yell at the whole cafeteria… If they had not seen and heard it with their own eyes and ears none of the students would've believed it happened anyways… Slowly, people snapped out of their shock and returned to their lunch and conversations… Most of the conversations at lunch that day whirled around the rumor and Nick's outburst but there was the notable difference that there were no more wishes or requests toward Nick or his brothers… Everybody left them well alone, knowing that they must be going through some pretty rough times…

Everyone knew and respected the Lucas brothers for their level headedness… All the students had thought that they would have huge egos and want to be treated special when the brothers first transferred to Horace Mantis… but once they got to know the guys, almost all of them had been astonished at how much they acted like normal kids… The Lucases were quite proud that they had brought up their rock star sons to know how to 'Keep it real' in the face of all the stardom, fans, awards and the media spotlight… Slowly but surely, Kevin, Joe and Nick had made their mark at school and made lots of friends… There was absolutely no one in school who didn't know them because of the band but there were also a lot of people who liked them for who they were…

As everyone returned to normal, the boys' table alone remained silent… Nick didn't want to say anything else… He was feeling quite embarrassed about his spontaneous outburst now… Joe, Kevin, Stella and Kevin's girlfriend Danielle hardly knew what to say… Everyone seemed to be concentrating solely on their lunch trays when Macy, who had missed part of lunch and the whole of Nick's outburst because of Tennis practice, plopped down onto the empty seat next to Nick and started to eat her lunch… She was so tired from the intense practice session that she didn't even notice the unusual quiet around the table for almost a couple of minutes….

"Hey guys… What's wrong?... What's with the gloomy faces?... Is this about that Carmen issue?... Has anything else been said about this by the media or Carmen?"

Nick sighed and shook his head sadly while grimacing at the thought of what he had just done

"No Mace… Nothing else… Just that I just stood up on the lunch table and yelled at the whole cafeteria to leave me alone and that Carmen and I were not engaged… I feel incredibly stupid now and no one else knows what to say… I am letting this issue get too much importance and I feel bad about it now…"

To his and everybody else's intense surprise, Macy started chuckling and went onto outright laughter…

"Mace…. What's so funny?.."

Still chuckling and wiping her eyes filled with tears from laughing so hard, Macy said

"I thought that you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from reacting to all the ribbing you were gonna get at school… I was in fact quite worried about it and was gonna say something to everyone myself… I had kinda planned to do the same thing… You know… Get up on the table and yell at everyone to leave you guys alone… I just found it really hard to believe that _**you**_, Nicholas Jerry Lucas did that and I wasn't there to see it… Care to give a repeat performance for me Nicky?"

Chuckling at Macy's teasing, Nick poked his tongue out at her, causing everyone at the table to start laughing at them, easing the atmosphere…

"Okay guys enough laughter and teasing… We have to figure some way to find out what Carmen means to do and why exactly is she doing this… It's gonna be impossible for you guys, especially Nick to live normal lives if she goes on doing something like this…" Danielle said, looking at Kevin for support… Which Kevin returned whole-heartedly, nodding at them before squeezing her hand and twining his fingers with hers…

Danielle was a senior like Kevin and had been Kevin's girlfriend for almost eight months now… She was a good looking redhead who was in the track team and was also a straight A student… It was Kevin's offbeat way of thinking that had attracted her at the beginning but when she came to know him, she had fallen hook, line and sinker for Kevin's sweetness and the Lucas charm… After graduation, both Danielle and Kevin had planned to move to NYC together… Kevin to go to Juilliard and Danielle to NYU… The four younger people in the group were often quite jealous of the obvious love, warmth and open affection that existed between Kevin and his girlfriend and hoped that they themselves could find something like that soon…

Everyone was nodding at what Danielle was saying because it made a lot of sense… Stella looked up at Macy as if she had remembered something suddenly

"Mace… Today morning at the lockers, how did you know exactly what had happened?... I mean it was almost like you'd been there seeing it happen the way you described it…. How did you do that?.."

Macy blushed lightly as all heads turned to look at her with frank looks of curiosity…

"It's really nothing you guys… Just that when you've been the president of the JONAS fan club and owner of the fan club website, you tend to know your gossip…"

She looked up at her friends to see that they weren't exactly following her…

"For example, most famous gossip websites or magazines send me forward copies of almost all articles or photographs they publish that's regarding the boys… They know that I am one of the few authentic sources of JONAS news and they like to make sure that what they're publishing is real and 100% authentic… What I am talking about is only the good magazine and websites…There are so many other ones that don't even authenticate the so called news that they publish… Those are the ones that only care about their increase in circulation and those are also the ones who usually end up getting sued by the stars…"

Explaining further, Macy started to feel guilty for not doing her job properly

"I am actually helping your Dad and Big Rob work out which ones are publishing rumors about you guys and try and get them to stop it before it gets out of hand… I am supposed to have found this earlier and tipped off Big Rob about it but I guess I missed it before it got too big for any of us to cut out… Sorry guys… I feel like I let you down…"

In an instant, a chorus of denials rose from the table as all five of her friends hurried to make sure that Macy was not beating herself up over something that trivial… Nick rubbed his hand comfortingly up and down her back as he said

"Come on Mace… It's so totally not your fault… It could've happened to anyone… Plus Big man and Dad are taking care of it now… I am sure they would love to have help from you…"

As Macy looked around at the table and found everyone agreeing to what Nick had just said, she felt the guilt inside her slowly melt into nothingness

"Thanks you guys… You don't know how much better I feel now… You are simply the best friends a girl could hope for…"

Stella 'awww'ed and pulled whoever she could into an uber-tight group hug… As they pulled out of it, the lunch bell rang and they all parted, promising to meet up at the Lucas Firehouse to discuss strategy…

End of Chapter 4

_**A/N : Review if you liked it :) :) :) and make my day!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N : Here it is guys... As i promised, the next chapter of this journey is here. A slightly less funny chapter for all those who enjoyed Nick's unusual rant in the cafeteria in the last one. But what to do?... Can't keep writing funny stuff if the story has to move fwd. But i promise... Where Kevin and Joe of JONAS are involved, fun can't remain far behind. Maybe next chapetr i'll do an outtake on the numerous funny and unusable ideas Kevin and Joe are supposed to have given in this chapter. Review if you want me to put it in...**_

_**Oh and also, big hugs and kisses ( the caramel swirly kind from hershey's ) to all my reviewers and all the nice people who put an alert on my story.**_

_**Disclaimer : Still don't own anything other than this plot line... if i can even call it that :|**_

**Chapter 5**

_Later that evening at the Firehouse, upstairs_

Kevin and Danielle were sitting on the couch, talking about nothing in particular, just happy to be able to spend time with each other without any media or anyone else around…. Stella and Joe were at the Stellavator (still patent pending), flirguing (A/N : for those of you behind times, that's a mixture of flirting and arguing… curious how perfectly it fits the couple in question :P )about some of Stella's new clothing choices for Joe, which he thought were covering too much of his skin… I mean come on… This outfit had a partial face mask along with the sweatpants and the massive hoodie… How the hell was he supposed to give an awesome concert and look his Joe of JONAS best in that? Stella was trying to convince him that this was cutting-edge fashion while freaking out silently that he shouldn't figure out that she didn't want her Joe to become too exposed to any of the crazy fan girls out there… The fan girls had become worse as the boys' popularity climbed the charts in an astronomical fashion. Last week fans had almost shredded some of Stella's new outfits for the boys in their frenzy to get a piece of JONAS. Stella was determined to protect her boys (read one _particular_ boy) from rabid fans as much as she could… hence the outfits in question… Not that she could explain that to Joe and expect him to understand.

Both the couples… Well, the couple and the wanna-be-together-but-still-afraid-to-take-the-step friends were waiting for Nick and Macy to finish their homework so that they could have a brainstorming session and decide what exactly to do about Carmen Santiago and her penchant for spreading rumors in the media about her and Nick. Nick and Macy were trying to wrap their heads around a calculus assignment, which they could say was not going well at all… After about half an hour of wrestling with summations and differentials, they were ready to give up and throw in the towel…

"Ugh…. This is so damn tough… Oops… sorry guys… didn't mean to say that…. Danielle… Can you help us here?... This assignment is getting nowhere and we don't have that much time…." whined Macy

After Danielle was roped in to help them finish the assignment, things went surprisingly fast and they were done with homework fifteen minutes later.

"Wow… Thanks Danielle… I knew there was a reason we all like you so much and why my big brother loves you…. Can you stick around and help us with all our homework from now on?" Smirked Nick, while ducking away behind Macy to avoid getting hit either by Kevin or Danielle…

After a bit of teasing and laughter, the group assembled on the couches, ready for their brainstorming session, including the necessities such as snacks and sodas, paper, pencils and a whole lot of stupid ideas. After a bit of good natured ribbing about getting involved with the likes of Carmen from Stella and Danielle and a lot of unusable but hilarious ideas from his brothers, Nick was ready to get down to business. Just as he was getting exasperated with his brothers' juvenile behavior, he saw that Macy noticed and quickly brought the whole thing to order, telling everyone that this was a serious discussion and that they needed to work something out soon before Carmen did anything else. Giving her a grateful smile and getting a cute wink in return, Nick suddenly had to push down the surge of warmth in his heart from showing on his face. If only Macy wasn't his best friend… He had been shying away from even mentioning that possibility, including in his frequent mental rants, for fear of either acting on it or letting it affecting his behavior towards Macy. Now, for one tiny second, Nick allowed himself to consider the possibility of something more, something deeper than the current relationship that he had with Macy and the strength of his yearning for it blew him away. He had known for quite some time that Macy meant more to him that just a friend but even he hadn't counted on the depth or strength of the feelings he had for her now.

By the time Nick zoned back in on the discussion, he was relieved to find that the conversation was halfway intelligent now, even though his older brothers were involved. The difference of temperaments between him and his older brothers often astonished him and made him want to question the fact that they shared any significant amount of DNA. Jumping in again from his reverie, Nick saw that the conversation was now being dominated by the girls, with his brothers throwing in suggestions that were quite good in fact. Atleast it showed that they were capable of being serious sometimes. It's not that he didn't love his family, he did… More than anything or anyone else (maybe with one exception… He wasn't sure about it yet) but sometimes he couldn't stand the antics of Kevin and Joe and the fact that they loved to get him all riled up and angry.

Nick snapped back to the present when Danielle suggested doing something like what they did for Joe in the Fiona Skye incident. They could bring in another girl into the scene and convince everyone that Nick was head-over-heels crazy for her. That would probably convince the media to layoff of the Carmen issue and give them some time to regroup. Also, it would give them the upper hand because they could then manipulate or control exactly what details of that relationship were released to the media. Nick shrugged in a non-committal manner when Danielle looked at him as if asking for his permission to go ahead with this plan. As if everyone had already agreed on it, they all jumped into a discussion of who exactly the girl in question should be.

"Look guys… I am not sure this is gonna work out. I mean, not to appear as if I am bragging but which girl in their right minds would agree to get into a make-believe relationship with me or any of us brothers while not wanting to make it into a real one?... And who could resist the temptation of leaking the news to the media and… I don't know guys… I am not sure if this is the way to go. Plus, there's also the little fact that whichever girl agrees to this hair-brained scheme, will also be placing herself right in the line of fire of Carmen Santiago. Now that we all know what she is like, we should also understand what all she might be capable of. I don't know if I would want to voluntarily put anybody in such a situation"

Nick looked so unconvinced that the rest of them gave it some more serious thought

"Come on then bro… Do you have any better ideas?... Besides, this is only to deflect the media attention from Carmen and her antics. It doesn't have to even be anything more than a fling. All you need to do is be seen going out with a girl, looking as if you are crazy about her and let the press run with the story. Girlfriend du jour and BAM!... instant speculation about who she is, why you are out with her and whether the story of your engagement with Carmen is true or not. We have already released a statement saying that it is all utter BS and that you would never get engaged at such a young age and all that ok? So this might be the only thing you need to do to fix it in people's minds that Carmen is lying. And about Carmen's reaction, we'll think of something when we get to it. It's not like Carmen's gonna employ hit men to take away your new girlfriend. We all know that she's a little crazy but I don't think she's that much bananas yet…"

Kevin finished triumphantly, punching one fist into another open palm and even Nick had to admit that his argument held a lot of weight. Reluctantly, Nick slowly okay-ed the idea and could almost see the excitement mounting in his friends faces. Turning, he was surprised to see that Macy almost appeared sad and put out about something but before he could open his mouth to ask what the problem was, Stella asked her something and Macy's face returned to normal. Nick shook his head slightly and let it slide… for now but he filed it away inside his head so that he could ask her about it later.

"Okay guys… Now that it's decided that we're gonna give Nicky here a new girlfriend… We have to decide who it is going to be. It has to be someone we know… in fact, someone Nick knows well… The two of you have to have some amount of chemistry to pull this off… This drama of whirlwind romance has to be so utterly believable that the hardest reporters have to buy it and call you guys the 'it' couple of the century. That's the only way we are gonna make the media and fans to forget about Carmen Santiago."

Stella looked excitedly from one to the other as she made her point and finally settled on Nick as she wound to a finish. Joe, Kevin and Danielle, who agreed with Stella on this already had a list out and were considering candidates who could be made into Nick's new girlfriend. Nick and Macy meanwhile, knew exactly what Stella was building up to and were simultaneously expectant of and dreading what she was going to say next. They almost cringed simultaneously as Stella's next sentence echoed through the suddenly quiet room.

"And I know exactly who should be Nick's new girlfriend…."

She paused dramatically… Both for effect as well as to torture the two people who, she knew were aware of what she was trying to do.

"Well… Come on… Get on with it and tell us who it is…"

Came the indignant voices of Kevin and Joe while Danielle looked from Stella to Nick to Macy in a confused manner. Then understanding dawned and an almost smug smile started to grow on her face, noticing which, both Macy and Nick glared at her. Danielle started chuckling as she found herself the subject of two almost identical glares and turned to Stella, giving her a discrete thumbs-up sign.

"Welllll… I think that there is only one person who would fit all the criteria perfectly. She would definitely be willing to do this to help Nick out…"

Stella said, looking pointedly at Macy, trying to guilt her into agreeing to the plan.

"She wouldn't be after you guys for your fame or money… She would never think about leaking the information to the press… Nick already knows her very well and also, they have enough Chemistry between themselves to blow up the house…"

At that, Macy and Nick's twin glares turned into twin blushes, making them look like a pair of tomatoes.

"Aww… Come on Stells… Quit the suspense thing… Tell us…" whined Joe

"The perfect girlfriend for Nick is right here… Macy!" she announced, as if presenting some new product on those late-night TV commercials. Danielle and Stella started clapping excitedly as Kevin and Joe looked from Macy to Nick in an assessing manner before joining the girls in applauding Stella's genius. As the four young people celebrated, the two remaining teens, sitting on the couch looked worriedly at their friends before looking at each other and blushing heavily.

_**A/N : Review if you liked it guys... Otherwise i never know what to write next... :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N : Hi there!... sorry for the delay in posting updates for this and other stories of mine. My Laptop had an untimely demise as it seems it suffered from CHD (congenital heart disease in most human cases, but i think Corrupt Hard Drive works equally well...) May it rest in peace... anyways... i now have a newly resurrected laptop, which underwent open heart surgery and transplantation... in normal terms, it got a new HDD... sadly, Junior here has no memories of its past life... So i had to completely re-write all my new chapters that i had ready for posting... will try and update all my stories soon... bear with me while i forge a new relationship with Junior.**_

_**P.S. Please review your thoughts... I welcome ideas, thoughts and criticism... I would also like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the people who have stuck with me and my long winded stories for such a long time. Hugs, kisses and warm chocolate chip cookies for all...Extra long bear hugs for those who reviewed and kept me writing... I luv you all :) **_

_**Disclaimer : Don't own anything JONAS... How many times do i have to say this before someone believes me?**_

**Chapter 06**

_**Next day morning, Firehouse**_

The previous day had been a success according to most of the group. They had not only formulated a strategy to counter any and all accusations that Carmen may come up with, they had also decided on a campaign to prove her wrong and expose the fact that she was lying to the rest of the world. Nick and Macy were however quite uncomfortable with the idea. They had been the closest of friends for quite some time now and were completely against the idea of laying their friendship on the line for something that might not even work.

Now that they had both had time to think it over, Macy and Nick were still extremely uncomfortable with the idea but had to agree that they didn't have a better plan in mind. Both of them were secretly dreading the next day as that had been the day allotted by the rest of the group for their grand debut as a couple.

Danielle and Stella had been almost disgustingly excited about this and were about as organized as a couple of ninjas with business degrees. They had quickly worked out dates, times and even coordinated the outfits they would be wearing whenever they were seen out together, trying to create as much media exposure and hype as they could with the short amount of time they had been given.

Today being a Saturday, all of them had some time off and had decided yesterday night that they would get together for breakfast at the firehouse and work out the details of their master plan to foil the devil-in-disguise Carmen Santiago while convincing the rest of the world along the way that Nick was head over heels in love with another girl. Since Stella had taken the responsibility of picking up Danielle along the way to the firehouse, Macy turned up a little early to help Sandy Lucas with making breakfast for a horde of teenagers.

That was how Nick found her that morning, with a flowered apron on over her black t-shirt, denim shorts and converses. Her hair was swept up in a messy bun with strands spilling out onto her cheeks and she was busy flipping some pancakes while Mrs. Lucas looked after the bacon and eggs.

"Good Morning Mom… Mornin' Mace… You're here early…"

"Good Morning Nick… yeah… I thought I'd come and help your mom out with the breakfast stuff. You know how much food we seem to put away…"

"Nick honey could you help by setting the table?..."

"Sure mom.. anything else you need me to do?"

"Yes… If you're done with the table you can take out the juice and the cereal boxes…"

"Will do mom.."

Nick and Macy spent the next few minutes working quietly side by side. The silence between them was never uncomfortable and they always managed to read each other perfectly, making a very good team. They managed to get everything cooked and set up before the whole family trooped in. A fresh from the shower Tom Lucas walked down the stairs while his sons Kevin, Joe and Frankie each chose a fireman's pole as their route to the ground floor.

Just as the hungry horde was about to devour everything in sight, a laughing Stella and snickering Danielle joined the group, refusing to tell them what it was they were laughing about. After being pressed about it and whined at for about a minute, Stella relented and told the guys and Macy that she would tell them later. Thus assured, the whole group managed to finish the mountain of food in barely half an hour.

After eating and cleaning up, the group of youngsters minus Frankie, who had ditched his brothers in favor of going to the arcade with his friends, trooped up to the upper level of the house and got settled. As soon as the six of them had found comfortable seating, Joe had turned to Stella and Danielle and was demanding to know what they had been snickering about. After glancing at Macy and Nick in what she knew was a decidedly wicked manner, Stella said

"Oh well… it was nothing actually…. Just that we had been planning on our way here, different ways that we could get Macy and Nick to act more comfortable around each other and help them in making everyone believe that they're actually going out with each other…. But the first thing we saw when Danielle and I got to the firehouse was… well…"

Here Danielle picked up the narrative and ran along with it

"Well… Let's just say that we found out all our hard work was for nothing. The first thing we saw when we got here was Macy and Nick quietly working away in the kitchen, so perfectly attuned with each other and so cutely oblivious to everything else. I mean… both of us walked in and said hello but got no replies from them… It was so cute… they were already so in sync with each other… It was almost like watching some old married couple… You know what I mean right?... Those cute old couples who know everything there is to know about each other and still love the heck out of them?..."

Both Stella and Danielle couldn't stop gushing about the cuteness factor of Macy and Nick's relationship while Kevin and Joe settled for alternating between the girls and the pseudo-couple with matching looks of glee at being given such a great opportunity to get back at their three-points-shy-of-genius younger brother.

Usually, Nick would be clever enough to not put himself in a situation where he had to listen to his older brothers crow over him but right now, there was absolutely nothing he could do. Sighing, he decided that he had made his own bed by dating the devil-in-disguise Carmen and now he had to lie in it.

The thought of having to act as if he was head over heels for Macy for the next couple of months at least got Nick very uncomfortable. It would be easy, very easy in fact for him to slip into the role of adoring boyfriend because that was exactly what he wanted to be. He knew that the act could very easily become something very real for him and that it would hurt him unbearably when they had to stop.

He knew that there was almost no chance of Macy feeling anything more than friendship for him. He knew her well enough to know that while he was her best friend and closest confidante in many ways, there was very little chance that she felt anything more for him. Not that he had let her know in any way that he too wanted something more than a friendship with her.

Nick also knew that Macy was a dedicated and loyal person and that she would do everything in her power to make their fake relationship appear as real as possible. It hurt him even more to think that it was due to his stupidity that she had been put in such a difficult situation. Deciding that he needed to do whatever he could to rectify the situation, Nick formulated a plan that could get the two of them alone and away from the maddening crowd of his brothers and their over excited girlfriends. Turning to the excitedly chatting group and a clearly disturbed Macy, Nick tried to get their attention

"Guys… guys…hello….listen to me…."

While Macy turned to look at him with a quizzical expression, his brothers were too involved in some argument involving ranks, affection and their mom, and the girls were excitedly squealing about some new plan they had hatched. Deciding to ditch the group while they were thus distracted, Nick grabbed Macy by the hand and motioning her to be quiet, led her down the stairs and out the firehouse by the back door.

"We need to talk this out Mace… before we agree to any hair-brained scheme that my brothers and their girlfriends are liable to come up with…"

Taking a short cut that they had found years ago to a small lake nearby, the two sat in a small clearing on its shore, comfortably out of sight due to the tall grass growing all around them.

"Nick… Is something wrong?... You kinda look… I don't know… a little nervous I guess?... Is everything alright?"

Nick was almost squirming at her question and decided that the best way would probably be to take the simple route out. He didn't really want to put his heart out there simply for it to get crushed when Macy told him that she didn't feel the same way about him.

"Well…. Mace… Are…Are you okay with this?... this plan or whatever it is?"

"Oh…That…. Yeah. I am okay with it. I mean… It's not gonna mean anything or change anything between us right? It's only gonna be for the benefit of the press and the fans… obviously to get Carmen off your back… So yeah. I guess I am okay with it…"

Macy seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about it and Nick figured it was only gonna get worse with time. They did have to talk about a lot of uncomfortable things before they could actually make a go at this fake-relationship thing for the benefit of the media. Nick was busy thinking about how he could approach some of the more difficult topics of conversation between friends and he missed the growing irritation on his best friend's face

"Actually… I am not okay with it. How do you do it Nick?"

Macy suddenly burst out. Nick blinked uncomprehendingly for a few long seconds

"Wh..What?"

"How do you do it?... How do you go out there and pick the worst girls to date?..."

"I don't pick the worst girls to date… What are you talking about?"

"You don't?... What are you like blind or something?... Case in point… Penny… you know the tall, blond one who played the guitar?... yeah…the one who stole your song…. Two… whatsherface… I don't even remember her name… the one who couldn't take the rock star life and broke up with you cuz you had to go on tour for two months and couldn't spend time with her… Then there was Miley or something… the brunette chick from Malibu?... God… don't even want to talk about how that went…and now, the best of all… Miss. Carmen Santiago… the one who's after you because you get the spotlight more than she does… and there are still others I haven't even mentioned in this all-star line-up which already sounds like a train wreck"

There was a full minute of silence after Macy's rant while Nick looked horrified and Macy, spent from her rant, coming down from her emotional high and taking in his expression, almost started to feel sorry for him.

"Sorry Nick… I shouldn't have gone on like that… It's not any of my business who you date but I just got a little angry and frustrated because you deserve so much better… It hurts me to see my best friend hurting because some girl he likes is not able to appreciate what she has in him…"

"No Mace… you're right. I did pick all the wrong girls to date… I don't know whether I was sub-consciously choosing them because I wanted the relationship to fail. You know I get most of my best songs out of heartbreak… I guess"

She could hear it in his voice. Nick was lying about something. He could lie convincingly to anyone, even his family if need be but if you knew him well enough like Macy did, you could catch the slight change in his voice, like there was now. Plus the fact that he clearly looked uncomfortable while saying it, choosing to look anywhere but at her and fiddling with a blade of grass. There might've been something more in the horrified expression he'd had on his face when she had been ranting about his choice of girlfriends.

Macy was only hoping that her feelings of jealousy hadn't peeked out too much during her speech and Nick hadn't noticed that she was angrier with the girls he had dated than at him for dating those girls. For too long, Macy had been hiding her feelings for the youngest member of JONAS. Even during her fan girl days, Nick Lucas had held a completely different position in her heart than his brothers. She had had a major crush on Nick of JONAS that had morphed into something deep rooted and long lasting when she came to know him as a person and as a friend.

Not that she would ever let him know about it. Nick Lucas was the best friend she had ever had and she valued her friendship with him more than anything else… maybe even more than wanting to have something more than friendship with him. Macy probably couldn't function properly if Nick wasn't her friend anymore and that scared her more than she wanted to admit.

So yeah… there was no way she was putting it all on the line just for a chance at being more than friends with Nick Lucas, even if it meant giving up the one chance at having the love of her life return her feelings. So, she decided to let it slide this time and act as if she didn't know he was lying to her face, even though she had a feeling that even _**he**_ knew that she knew he wasn't telling the truth.

Nick on the other hand was horrified at how close Macy had come to actually understanding his convoluted reasoning for choosing to date those girls. It was like he had sub-consciously chosen girls with whom he could never have a successful relationship just because he didn't want one with anyone other than that single person who held a special position in his heart. The girl who was part of his heart, on his mind all the time and an indivisible part of his life… Macy.

Nick had chosen to date the most unlikely girls because some part of him had known that the relationship wouldn't work out. Getting the reputation of being a serial dater was much better than having his best friend and the girl he loved leave him because she didn't feel the same way. He didn't have the guts to confront Macy with his feelings but being a rock star who lived his life in the spot light more often than not, people just wouldn't leave him alone if he wasn't out and about, spotted at one party or the other.

The media and the fans demanded to know everything about all the facets of his life. Being a teenage rock star in Hollywood, there was no way he could get away with not dating anyone for any extended period of time. So Nick chose to play it safe and went in for relationships which he was sure wouldn't last long and in the process, kept his heart safe and sanity intact.

He knew he wasn't being fair to the girls he dated, but come on… he had never promised them anything he couldn't give. Plus, the songs he got out of the failed relationships weren't half bad if the Grammys were any indication.

It somehow seemed as if she wasn't going to call him out on his bold-faced lie. He had been hoping that she wouldn't figure it out but he knew that there were very few chances that he had lied convincingly in front of Macy. She always seemed to know when he was lying… not to mention, he was always extremely nervous when he lied to her… something about not wanting her to be angry with him he guessed… But, today somehow, it seemed as if she was willing to let it slide and not grill him about it. Silently thanking God for letting him get away with it this time, Nick tried to steer the conversation back to the safer but still discomfort-inducing topics he had been pondering earlier.

"Umm… Mace… we should discuss our story…you know…what we're gonna say to the press when they ask about our relationship… how we plan to behave in social settings and all that…uh… Do you wanna talk about it now?"

"Ummm…oh yeah… I f..forgot…. We're gonna have to talk about that aren't we?... Yeah… it's a little awkward I'm sorry… but I guess it would be best if we got it over with…so yeah… let's talk about it…"

"O….Okay… So… uh… I guess we should first discuss what we're gonna tell the press about how we got together. I mean everyone who knows JONAS knows about you. You're quite famous as our number one fan and the president of our fan club you know…."

"Hmmm… Okay… How about we say… uh… Actually I have no idea what to say… haven't really thought about it till now."

"Ok… how about this?... I read somewhere that the most believable lies have a portion of truth in them. How about we say that we've always been great friends and we became much closer during the last tour?... We missed each other a lot and spoke to each other quite a bit over the phone, or through email or video chat. After JONAS got back and I broke it off with Carmen, we decided to take the step but take it slow?... What do you think?... If this were to appear on the JONAS website would you believe it?"

Macy appeared thoughtful for almost a minute, as if analyzing the story he had fed her from all angles before she brightened considerably and shook her head yes.

"I guess if I read this on the JONAS website, I would believe it. It's quite plausible and has almost no loopholes… I think it'll work…"

Both Nick and Macy looked quite relieved at that, relieved at having decided that portion of their fake relationship with such little effort on either part.

"O…Okay… moving on… How many days should we say we've been dating each other?"

Nick tried a slightly business-like voice

Suppressing a slight smile at his attempt at making this into something slightly less uncomfortable for both of them, Macy replied in the same voice

"I guess we should say about a week or week and a half now right?... Anymore would be like rubbing Carmen's face in it and might seem like you were cheating on her with me while you were dating her. Not the image you wanna portray right?"

"Oh yeah… didn't think about that… hmmm… so.. slightly more than a week but no more than a couple… prefect."

Both of them knew they were fast approaching the most uncomfortable part of their conversation and they were both becoming keyed up and nervous. Nick had started fidgeting with another blade of grass and Macy had no idea where to look… After a strained silence, Nick could take it no longer

"Okay… both of us know we have to talk about it at some point of time or the other… we're both responsible people and can handle this kind of situation. So let's just get in there and discuss this like adults alright?"

Taking a deep breath, Macy nodded, still a little unsure about what she was getting herself into. She was nervous but determined to see this through for Nick's sake. Getting him out of the clutches of the likes of Carmen Santiago was enough reason to put the necessary effort into this. So, she rushed into speech, her ideas flowing out as she was speaking

"Ok Nick… let's do this. So… how do we go about this? I mean… the media knows you well enough by now… everyone knows that you're a private kinda guy… that you don't like to share your private life with the world. Also everyone knows that you're kinda intense and tend to fall in and out of love rather quickly… So those things sorta work out in our favor…. We could easily build on that stuff… and with very little work make it seem as if this thing is…. real"

To her horror, Macy's voice broke on the last word. She hurriedly cleared her throat and looked up at her best friend and as of now, make-believe boyfriend.

The expression on Nick's face was unreadable as he was busy contemplating Macy's statement. The belief that they might just be able to pull it off and its implications were dawning in his mind and he distractedly noticed that Macy seemed to have some trouble with her voice over the last sentence.

He always noticed Macy's voice. Whether by habit or design he didn't know, but Nick had started noticing Macy's voice very early in their friendship, maybe back when they hadn't even been anything more than a rock star and fan. It was now as familiar to him as his own and he could probably pick it out of a crowd of thousands… in fact he had picked out her voice out of the thousands of screaming fans during their last concert in New Jersey on their previous tour… a fact that he kept close to his heart as he knew he would have to undergo a whole lot of teasing and ribbing if his brothers ever found out.

For a person who had a beyond horrible singing voice, Macy's speaking voice had a very melodic lilt to it, a very pleasant timbre and her laugh…oh man!... that laugh belonged on an angel at the very least. It must've been probably the most musical sound he had heard in a long time. The tinkling laugh, the amused titter and the infectious giggle were all as familiar to Nick as if he had been hearing them all his life. In fact, the desire to hear more of her voice and find out if it really had been as melodic as he had thought had probably been the starting point for Nick's efforts in opening up to Macy. And we all know how that went. Cue violins here as Nick falls in love… for real… for the first time in his life.

The Macy he had gotten to know after she had chilled out about their being JONAS, the real Macy, was one who loved sports, had an eclectic taste in music, wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in, was unfailingly loyal to her friends and was just awesome company during a baseball or basketball game.

This Macy, to Nick's surprise had no qualms in fighting with him over who was the better team or who should've been chosen to open the pitching in a particular game. She was also quite open about her opinions of their music and often gave valuable advice when it came to fan girl behavior. She had fast become Big Rob's best friend of the lot and often spent a lot of time with him, helping him plan out tactics and strategy before a concert or a tour.

This new Macy, or should we say the real Macy, had reeled Nick in hook, line and sinker. If he had sat down and listed the qualities he wanted in a perfect girlfriend, he would definitely not end up with Macy but now that he saw it, he knew… Macy was the perfect girl for him. She might not be what he had wanted in the past but he knew that she was what he needed… and by the way his feelings were shaping up, she might very well be what he more than wanted now.

Nick had to literally shake himself out of his sudden reverie and drag his attention back to the conversation at hand. Trying his best to make sure that Macy was comfortable with what they were planning, he said

"Mace… to make it appear real, all we have to do is be seen out together, just the two of us a couple of times and some more times along with the gang and act all lovey-dovey. We would've to hold hands, maybe hug a couple of times in public… We already do all of that in our normal relationship… So I guess it shouldn't be a problem… I'll just brush up on my adoring boyfriend skills and get ready for tomorrow…"

Nick smirked at her, trying to inject some humor into the situation.

"Alright Nick… I guess we can pull it off… I admit I had some doubts about this… but as you said, we are already comfortable around each other so that should help us out to a great extent. And I have some contacts of mine in the media who would be willing to run with it…"

She was thoughtful for a couple of seconds, working it out mentally before her smile spread across her face like the rising sun

" So I guess from now on till we get rid of Carmen, you're going to have to play the smitten boyfriend…. You'll need to get your act together Lucas… cuz you're gonna need all of your skills just to keep up with me…"

Grinning cheekily, Macy sprinted back to the firehouse without a glance back to see if he was following, leaving Nick scrambling in an effort to catch her. Their laughter was echoing through the house when they ran in at full tilt, just to come to a screeching halt in front of four really angry teenagers.

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_**A/N : Please review people... It not only makes me happy but it feeds my poor food starved imagination. And we all know what that means... faster updates for you :)**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hi there!... Thank you for going along with me and not complaining... too much about my random and totally infrequent updates. I will try and update in a frequent and timely manner from now on... Can't promise that i will but i can promise to try... :) Neways... thanks a lot to all the people who read, favorite-ed, alert-ed and reviewed on this and all the rest of my fics. Hope you like this chapter... Review your thoughts...**_

_**Disclaimer : Do not... *repeat* Do not own anything JONAS related... other than this plot line... if it can be called that :)**_

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**Chapter 7**

Macy Annabelle Misa knew it... She was in trouble. Big... no... Big didn't even start to cover it. This was beyond humongous. She knew that she should've never agreed to the harebrained scheme that was cooked up by Stella the other night. But no... She had to be all over confident and cocky, thinking she could handle it and agree to act as Nick's pretend girlfriend.

She should've known that it would be torture to be with him, pretending to be an adorable young Hollywood couple for the media when she wanted nothing more than for it to be real... for their sakes, not for the media. But she knew that she had a crucial part to play in the plan to get Nick free of the clutches of the press hungry Carmen and that she had to bring her A-game if she was to be seen partying with the seasoned celebrities.

Macy knew that she couldn't drop her guard even for a second if they were to pull this off. Not that Nick would ever let her down. In fact she was in grave danger of letting him down... of letting them all down, all because she'd come dangerously close to letting her feelings for her best friend overflow out of the box she kept it tightly sealed in.

She didn't know what she would do if Nick found out about the feelings she had for him and didn't react in the same way. She was quite sure that he wasn't gonna get down on his knees and declare his undying love for her, in fact it would probably put a permanent rift in their relationship if he ever found out. She was going to have to do a better job of hiding her feelings around him but she'd have to find time to work on it later.

Because now, now was the time when she could give full freedom to what ever her heart told her to do. She could act on every instinct, ever feeling she had buried deep inside her heart, never thinking that they would see the light of day. She had full freedom to act the way she had always wanted to act around Nick. She knew that he would be playing the role of the adoring boyfriend perfectly cuz there were very few things Nick wasn't good at... not that he needed to know that she thought so... he already had quite a big head and she couldn't deal with more smugness from him...

Oh who was she kidding?... he was adorable and she would go through anything for him. Macy sighed... she was completely and utterly pathetic... like every other fool ever to fall in love with their best friend. Only, this one wasn't gonna work out like it always did in the chick flicks. He wasn't gonna be her knight in shining armor and they weren't gonna ride off into a glorious sunset with a happily ever after tagging along. They would have to go back to their supposedly normal friendship after this little drama for the sake of the press and Macy'd have to silently pick up the pieces of her shattered heart and try and put it together again.

Macy knew that it was going to be torturous to get to be with Nick the way she had wanted to for such a long time and then have to go back to acting as just a friend and nothing more while all her heart wanted was for the relationship to be real. But she was a strong girl and she'd find a way to deal with it. But now wasn't the time for it. Now, she had to get ready to sparkle. The whole group was depending on her to carry this off and she needed to pull it together.

Safe to say that at least eighty percent of the country's media people would be camped outside the red carpet they were to walk tonight and they all needed to be on top of their game if they had to handle everything the press was going to throw at them in light of the Carmen fiasco. You see, the night that Stella and Danielle had so painstakingly chosen for the grand debut of Nick and Macy's relationship, was the night of the VMAs. JONAS, was up for two awards and being their first time in the big league, not being considered a boy band anymore, more than their normal share of press attention would be on them tonight.

Macy had almost passed out when she'd first heard Stella and Danielle outline their plan. Even Nick had looked a little uncomfortable with it but the girls'd somehow managed to convince everyone of the fact that they needed to make the most of every opportunity given to them and that it didn't get bigger than the VMAs. Macy and Nick had agreed to it after thinking it out and figuring that most of the press would be too busy with all the other rock stars and the awards ceremony itself to pay too much attention to them, but still afford them good press exposure.

Stella, being her usual fashion-goddess self, had whipped up delectable dresses for the girls with subtly matching outfits for the boys. Stella's outfit was an asymmetrical one shoulder mid-thigh length confection of silk in pale pink of course. It looked quite demure from one side but the other side was just held together by a ribbon of silk that held the outfit together, tying the two sides together like a shoe lace. It made Stella look hot beyond limits while still looking stylish but not slutty and Joe would match her in a pale gray skinny suit with a pale pink tie. Only Joe could pull off something pink on the red carpet and Stella knew it very well. Danielle's outfit was a mini dress in deep brownish maroon in raw silk with a black lace overlay. The fitted corset top with the pouffy skirt made her look a million bucks while Kevin would look amazing in his dark suit with a scarf tied like a cravat in the same fabric as Dani's dress.

Nick and Macy had been kept in the dark about their outfits till the last moment as Stella had wanted to surprise them. Both of them trusted Stella absolutely and had no problems leaving it all to her. They had both been dressed by the fashionista enough times to know that she always did an awesome job. But even then, they had been blown away by how much effort Stella and Danielle had put into the outfits. Macy looked at herself in the mirror at Stella's house where the girls were getting ready.

The boys would be here in the limo to pick them up any minute and Macy still had to strap on the 3 inch platform wedges that had been the compromise between flats and stilettos that Stella insisted would look great with the outfit. Macy had never been comfortable in heels but she wanted to do everything she could to make this night prefect for the others and she had finally settled for the silver wedges. Macy's dress had been a dream come true, only she didn't even know that she'd ever had such a beautiful dream. The dress was a short but stylish creation in electric indigo, which Macy knew as any other good fan of JONAS should know, was Nick Lucas' favorite color.

The dress had a fitted top, short filmy sleeves and a skirt that swished around her legs, ending a couple of inches above her knees. The thing that made this outfit so spectacular was the sparkly rhinestone design on it that shot through the whole of the top part of the dress. The profusion of sparkle might've looked a little too much had anyone else done the job but Stella had excelled herself this time. The rhinestones were muted, the pattern giving them the appearance of silver webbing on the dress, looking as if veins of silver were running all over the top of the dress.

Now, as the girls heard Stella's mom let the boys in downstairs, they hugged each other one last time before going down the stairs one by one. The three boys waiting downstairs had no idea what they were in store for.

Stella came down the steps first. Joe, who had been fidgeting nervously, waiting for his date, was struck dumb. Stella's blonde hair had been teased into big floppy curls that fell all over her shoulders and she was a vision in pink in that awesome dress. Clad in what he knew were her newest Christian Louboutin gold heels with a muted gold clutch in her hands, she was all Joe could see. Joe had always known that Stella was a fashion genius but she had clearly outdone herself tonight, if his reaction and that of his brothers was anything to go by. Suddenly, Joe didn't want to go to the awards ceremony. All he wanted was to pick Stella up, take her away somewhere where they could be alone and uninterrupted, and tell her everything that he'd wanted to say but never had the courage to tell.

Beside him, Kevin wasn't faring much better. He might've actually drooled if there hadn't been all these people around. He knew his Dani was the most beautiful girl in the world to him but he'd never expected to see her like this. The dress, the hair, the shoes... the whole look was just mind blowing. He'd never seen Dani with her hair done up in that manner. There was something about those black waves that sat on the back of her head in a somewhat messy but still stylish bun, with pieces falling out all over that made Kevin want to undo the whole thing and run his fingers through her hair. Combine that with the killer black, strappy heels that she was wearing, Kevin was on his way to getting completely undone before the end of the night.

Nick however, was quite nervous. He'd not really been looking forward to this experience knowing that he was entering into something that was potentially heart breaking but now that he'd seen how his brother's girlfriends looked, his nervousness increased exponentially. Knowing Stella, she'd saved the best for the last. And seeing as today was supposed to be their relationship's debut, Nick was even more nervous as to how he was going to control his reactions around Macy. To him she look beautiful even in sweats with messy hair but tonight, he knew that she would be looking like a billion dollars and that he would've to be prepared to be blown away.

And then, she came. The second she came into view, Nick felt his breath knocked clear out of him. He knew that Stella had been waiting for his reaction and could see her smirking in victory out of the corner of his eyes. She'd been waiting to take her revenge on him since yesterday, for disappearing with Macy. They'd both had to face the wrath of Stella and Danielle when they'd gotten back from their discussion. The girls had cooled down a bit after being told that Nick and Macy had gone out to discuss about their relationship but Nick knew that Stella wasn't the kind to forgive and forget.

He'd been waiting for her to strike for the whole day and had been frustrated and jumpy cuz she hadn't done anything. He'd known something was up by the way his brothers had been smirking at him since that afternoon but he'd dismissed it as their usual childishness. Now he knew. They'd all been waiting for this moment. His reaction to what he was sure was gonna blow his mind and leave his brain melting into a puddle of mush. And he wasn't disappointed. At all...

Macy looked like a goddess. Man!... Was he lucky to be the shmuck that would be holding her close for the rest of the evening... That second all his nervousness and misgivings about the plan fled from him. Nick decided that he was gonna give free reign to his feelings and let everything else be damned. He would act the way he'd always wanted to around Macy tonight and they would deal with any repercussions later. But for tonight, he was going to let it all go and just be what he wanted to be... Macy's boyfriend.

Shaking himself out of the Macy induced stupor, Nick stepped forward and gave Macy his hand to help her down the last couple of steps. The wide smile she gifted him with for his efforts temporarily sent him back into the stupor that he thought he'd managed to shake. His eyes caught the bare, silky length of Macy's legs that seemed to go on forever thanks to the shortness of the dress and the intricately strapped silver heels she was wearing, and seemed stuck there. It took a slight nudge from Joe and a bit of coughing from Kevin along with giggles from Stella and Danielle to bring Nick back to the present. He blushed heavily while averting his face and pulled Macy closer to him.

After saying goodbye to Mrs. Malone, the group got into the waiting limo and proceeded to NYC, where the VMAs were being held this year at the Radio City music hall. The 40 minute drive to the venue was filled with more planning and advice to the two teenagers who were supposed to be portraying a couple tonight. The limousine neared the venue, which was a huge stadium, with the after party taking place in a dozen different hotels and clubs afterwards.

As they came closer and closer to the moment when they'd have to step out as a couple in front of the whole world, Macy grew more and more nervous. Sitting next to her, Nick could almost feel the nervousness and anxiety coming off her in waves. Silently, he looked around to see that the rest of the group was busy in their own little worlds and he slipped his arms around Macy's slight body and pulled her to him. Macy was now almost sitting fully on Nick's lap and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing her head into his shoulder. Turning his head slightly, Nick whispered in her ear

"Scared?"

Macy shivered slightly at the feeling of having his warm breath caress her ear. Looking up into his chocolate eyes, she nodded slightly and tightened her hold on him

"Yeah... a little..."

"Don't worry... it'll be all okay... I'm right here beside you and i'll never let you go. Okay?"

With Nick's arms wrapped around her waist, sitting on his lap, hearing his soft velvety voice say those reassuring words, Macy's anxiety slowly bled away, replaced by a calmness and security that she felt only when around Nick. Just being with him made her feel calm and being in his arms gave her the feeling of security that no one else could. As the driver's partition in the limo went down and Big Rob, who was sitting in front told them that they were about to arrive, Macy felt calmer than she had in a long time and slipping out of Nick's hold, she kissed his cheek slightly, thanking him silently for giving her the strength and support. After undergoing a few more minutes of last second appraisals and make up checks by Stella, the whole group got ready to get off the limo, right onto the massive red carpet.

As the limousine rolled to a stop, Macy felt Nick tug her hand slightly and turned to look at him

"Just one single thing before we go out there... You don't have to say or do anything you don't want to. If you're not comfortable with this, we could just make it as if we've come to the ceremony as friends. I just wanted you to know that you'll always have a choice... if you want to back out of this, we still have time..."

"It's okay Nick. I am ready to do this. We've already discussed all our other options and this is the best way out. And I don't really mind spending time with my best friend at some glitzy award function looking like a billion bucks... If people want to assume something more then they can do whatever they want. I am fine with this okay?... we'll be fine. Don't worry... You now me... if i wasn't comfortable with this, i wouldn't be doing it."

"Okay then... Prepare to turn on the charm... oh... and one more thing... don't look at any of the cameras directly... that way you don't get affected too much by the flashes. Just hold my hand and walk straight down the pathway. I'll help you with the rest of it."

Macy nodded with a grin, the excitement of the occasion finally getting to her, receiving a half smile in return. This one time, she wasn't thrown off her equilibrium by her reaction to him. She knew she was allowed to react the way she wanted to and impulsively kissed him on the cheek again as she eagerly looked forward to her first experience at a major awards ceremony in the music industry.

As in everything the boys did, the group exited the car in their normal order - meaning, Kevin and Danielle got down first, some ten seconds later and pausing for full effect, Joe and Stella got out. Then it was their turn. Nick got out first and lent Macy a hand, helping her stabilize herself on the heels that she wasn't used to walking on. But once she was alright, Nick found that he didn't wanna let go of her. He laced their fingers together and gave them a slight squeeze. On Macy's slight questioning glance, he leaned down and whispered close to her ear

"I thought it would look better for the media if we acted a little more... i don't know... couple-like... is that okay with you?"

It might've been his imagination or the distracting flashes from the umpteen cameras but Nick thought he saw Macy's face fall a little on his explanation but a second later, she looked up with a pseudo-real smile and squeezed his fingers back, nodding slightly to tell him that she was okay with it.

Neither of them realized that during their silent conversation, they had both turned towards each other and were now standing in the middle of the red carpet, facing each other, their bodies close enough to not let even a very thin person between them. Macy's smiling face was looking up at Nick's, which was also creased into a rare half smile and their hands were laced together, making for the perfect photo op for all the journalists who were going crazy all around them.

As the two resumed their walk up the long red carpet, they saw that Kevin and Dani and Stella and Joe had already made it up about half the way and that the two of them had been left behind.

"Oh... this is not good. I didn't wanna get caught alone in this mob of journos..."

Nick muttered, slightly nervous at the prospect of wading the dangerous red carpet waters alone, with just Macy on his side. But he had forgotten that Macy herself was involved with the media, wanted to be a journalist in the future and was a veteran at dealing with reporters due to her experience with the running of the number one JONAS website.

"Brace yourself... this might easily get ugly..."

came the comment from his diminutive date as Nick wrapped one arm protectively around her slender waist.

All they could do was take a deep breath before dozens of microphones were shoved in their faces and loads of questions were dropped on them

"Nick Lucas... who's your date tonight?"

"Nick.. do you think JONAS is going to be winning any awards tonight?"

"Nick... Congratulations on your engagement to Carmen Santiago..."

"Trouble in paradise already Mr. Lucas?... You've come here without your fiancee..."

"Nick Lucas... you're here with your biggest fan and president of your fan club Macy Misa tonight... what does that mean for your relationship with Ms. Carmen Santiago?... We've heard conflicting reports from both sides about your supposed engagement to her..."

Trust Amy Barnes from Entertainment tonight to know who she was... As soon as the crowd got to know that she was Macy Misa, JONAS fan club president and fan girl extraordinaire, most of their attention and all the microphones switched to her

"Macy... how does it feel to be on the red carpet with your idol tonight?"

"Macy Misa... how does it feel to date a man who's already taken?"

"Macy... Is there some sort of arrangement between you and Ms. Santiago about dating Nick Lucas?"

Macy slightly but unobtrusively steered Nick towards the microphone that was hanging from the hand of Amy Barnes. Both of them knew that Amy was a good reporter and would present their story without bias or gossip. As soon as Amy saw them coming her way, she broke away from the pack of journos and gesturing to her cameraman to follow her, stepped away to a slightly less crowded part of the red carpet.

Taking another deep breath, Nick and Macy made their way to Ms. Barnes and her camera person, all the while dodging more questions thrown at them. On reaching the reporter, they did a quick sound check and were all ready to go live before an audience of millions in a matter of seconds.

"Okay... First off... i am gonna say that both of you are looking absolutely gorgeous... all the best at the ceremony tonight..."

Both Macy and Nick smiled at that and thanked Amy for her compliments

"Okay...now that we have all the pleasantries out of the way, i am gonna go ahead and ask the question that everyone is going crazy about... Nick... what is the deal on your relationship with Carmen Santiago? I mean one day we hear from her agent that the two of you are happily engaged, the next day your manager says that the story is not true and then two days later, here you are, out with Macy Misa... your fan and friend"

"Well Amy... I wish i could tell you what exactly the deal is... but trust me, even i don't know. I never proposed to Carmen Santiago. She is a nice girl and all and we had fun while we dated but i broke up with her a long time ago. We decided that we were better off as friends and both of us agreed to break off the relationship. It was all over between us for quite some time when i heard the rumor going around about our engagement. I have to tell you... i was as shocked as everyone else."

"So... Let me get this right... you never proposed to Carmen Santiago and you're not dating her now...right?"

"Absolutely... Carmen and I were in a relationship before JONAS' last world tour... like three months ago. We broke up a week before i left on tour. We haven't been dating for quite some time now. I believe she actually has another boyfriend now... In fact, i think she's here with him tonight... You know... you can't always trust all the rumors these days..."

Nick gave his slight self-deprecating half smile and Macy could almost see Amy Barnes, the seasoned entertainment reporter, almost melting at the sight. Belatedly, Amy seemed to notice Nick's arm around her with his hand clasped in hers and raising a perfect eyebrow, asked the next question

"So... Now that we all know that you are not engaged to Carmen and that she seems to have moved on... Is there something we should know?... from your side?"

Nick and Macy looked at each other, smiled and obligatorily blushed and Macy ducked her head a little while Nick turned back to the camera and the reporter

"Yeah... well... I am in a relationship now... Macy and I've been dating for about... what is it?... two... three weeks now... We're still getting used to the fact that we're in that kind of a relationship with each other... so yeah... we're gonna take it slow, one day at a time and see where it goes..."

"Congratulations both of you... you make a very cute couple... so Macy... tell me... what is it like to be dating the guy you've been the biggest fan of for such a long time?"

"Well Amy... I'll always be a big fan of the guys and their music but i've stopped fan-girling since... i don't know... i haven't really paid attention to it... but i am definitely not their biggest fan anymore... It's been more of a friendly relationship between me and the guys for quite some time now... Nick has been like... my best friend for a while now and if there was any weirdness at the beginning of this relationship, it was because of dating my best friend... not due to dating my idol or anything..."

"Aww... so cute... So what made you take that step from... best friends... to more?"

Nick stepped in and answered this question

"It wasn't like a conscious decision or anything... we've always been very special to each other... Macy understands me better than anyone else and I do the same for her... We always spent a lot of time with each other... During this tour we got to spend a lot of the down time together talking on the phone or video chatting and it just kinda blossomed from there... you know what they say about love... hits you when you least expect it..."

Macy really really wanted to believe the loving expression on Nick's face when he turned to smile at her. He leaned down to press a soft kiss on her forehead and they almost heard the reporter 'awww'ing about their cuteness.

"That is so sweet you guys... I know you don't have much time... So i'll make this quick... how did your brothers and family react to this relationship?"

Before either of them could answer, they heard Stella's voice pip up from behind them

"Oh... We've been waiting for them to get together since... like forever... god!... they were so clueless for such a long time... I mean... you can see it... they're prefect for each other. I would've definitely interfered and done some match making mischief if they hadn't found each other by now..."

The two teenagers and the two reporters turned to see Stella, Joe, Dani and Kevin walk back down the carpet towards them.

"Hey!... Wassup everybody... I see we're all havin a great time here..."

Joe was almost rocking back and forth on his heels in excitement. Stella seemed to be having quite a tough time stopping him from jumping up and down. Kevin and Danielle were as always, calm and collected, but totally immersed in each other.

"Come on guys... we gotta get going... it would be rude to get there late" said Kevin

"It's been nice talking to you Amy... We have to go now... "

"Oh before you go... Macy... who're you guys wearing tonight?"

Macy pulled a slightly blushing Stella away from Joe and towards the camera

"Get a good look at her Amy... She is gonna be the next big thing in the fashion industry... We're all wearing Stella Malone originals tonight..."

"Wow!... Okay... All of you look simply amazing... Stella you're gonna be even more famous than you already are after tonight... Anyways... All the best guys... Have fun and thank you for the interview..."

As they turned toward the carpet once again, they heard Amy Barnes say behind them

'You heard it first on Entertainment tonight!... Nick Lucas is not dating Carmen Santiago and he says that they're not engaged. And for the big news of the night, Nick Lucas seems to be in a relationship with fan, friend and president of their fan club, the lovely Macy Misa. They make a really cute couple don't they Paul?... Back to you at the studio Paul...'

Macy heard Stella whisper in her ear

"Mission Accomplished..."

She turned and nodded to her with a smile as she felt her heart break a little. In all the excitement of the interview and the red carpet, with her wanting so badly for this to be real, she'd almost forgotten that the relationship between her and Nick was nothing but an elaborate charade. Stella's comment just now brought her back to reality with a jolt.

As the group climbed the sweeping staircase to take them inside the stadium and towards the stage, Macy steeled herself and her heart against the excitement of the night and her feelings for the boy still holding her hand. She knew that she'd have to if she had to get through this and remain unscathed. She would try her best to take it all in without attaching herself too much to it all... Cuz this might just be the first and last time she got to go with Nick to such a beautiful event.

Beside her, Nick was in a similar frame of mind. He found that now he had his hand around Macy's waist, he didn't want to let go... So under the guise of guiding her, he kept his arm around her, pulling her soft, warm body close to his on every occasion he was presented with. The two of them knew each other so well that Nick could almost feel it to the second when Macy started distancing herself mentally from all of it. He wondered about her reaction... She loved stuff like this and it was like a dream of hers to attend such an event for a long time now... Then why was she reacting like this?...

Before he could continue to worry about this, they were escorted to their seats and a few minutes later, the lights dimmed and the ceremony had started. Nick resolved to stay by Macy's side for the whole event, and not let go of her hand for even a minute. The others thought that they were probably doing it to show everyone that they were in a relationship but only Nick knew that he was doing it as much for himself as for everybody else.

The only times during the night that Nick let go of Macy's hand were during the two times he'd had to go on stage to receive their awards. Kevin had won the award for best new director and he'd requested that both his brothers receive the award with him... and then they'd had to go on stage again to receive the award for the best new breakout artist.

The awards had been great, but for Nick the best part of the evening was the time he got to spend with Macy. It was fun showing her around, introducing her to all the famous people he knew and seeing their reactions to her and the fact that they were dating now... wait... supposedly dating now... Nick would do good to remember that and remember it well... Cuz he knew that Macy was only acting very well as his girlfriend. It wasn't real... no matter how much he wanted it to be.

Oh man... It was going to be a long and torturous three weeks pretending that Macy was his girlfriend... having everything the way he wanted it to be for real... and then having it ripped away from him three weeks from now, when the group had decided that the two of them would break up... for the sake of the press. Till then, he could have it all... he could have Macy as his girlfriend but after that, they would have to go back to being... just friends and Nick's heart would break in the process.

The only bright spot on the horizon was that the band would be getting a load of chart busting numbers from his heartbreak. Yeah right!... He seriously needed to take another look at his life if getting hits out of heartbreak was being considered a bright spot... But right now, he'd do his best to make sure that Macy had the most memorable night ever...while he prepared himself for the heartbreak that was surely waiting at the end of this road.

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_**A/N: Please review your thought about this chapter... I would love to know how you liked it... actually review even if didn't like it... tell me what you want me to change about it and we'll see where we can take it from there... :)**_

Love

Macy Bear


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